Cardinal Specifications and other airplanes

Many pilots have never sat in a Cardinal, as they are usually kept as a private pet and rarely rented. And most airports are lucky to have one Cardinal in residence. As a result, most folks shopping for a Cardinal have only seem them from a distance. Of course they do look good from a distance.

Hopefully these pages will share information to help you get at least a mental picture of the Cardinal. If you look closely you'll learn that the Cardinal has a great deal more shoulder room than most Cessnas, a fair bit more rear seat leg room and has performance specs better than most.

You may recall that the Cardinal was the last airplane designed by Cessna before the great General Aviation downturn of the late '70s. Its design was considered by most Cessna designers in that era as the very best light aircraft that could be built.

We know this because they told us so when we came back 40 years later, bringing 100 Cardinals to a flyin convention at Witchita. A dozen or more retired Cessna workers came to our events and regailed us with stories of their memories of the Cardinal: designing, building, testing and watching them fly away with their new owners.

They shared their impressions of the Cardinal as being the very best Cessna design, and we shared our stories of how the Cardinal had shaped each of our lives. It was a great conversation for both parties.

It is unclear now much of this attention to detail, care in design and appreciation for results will come across in the hard, cold numbers of these tables. But read between the lines and you may find that the Cardinal is the best Cessna not only in the minds of those who built her with love, but also in the facts and figures by which we must ultimately fly.